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It's time to come OUT OF HIDING #newbook by Mia Kerick

January 13, 2014

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Synopsis:

After graduating from high school early,
twenty-year-old Philippe Bergeron spent the past several years lost among the
stars while fishing off the New England coast. A shoulder injury ends his dream
of living reclusively on the water, and he finds himself lost among the bright
lights of New York City. His older brother, Henri, has asked Philippe to
chaperone his seventeen-year-old niece, Sophie, on her tours of the city's
legendary dance programs.

Sophie meets with professional dancer and
choreographer, Dario Pereira, to prepare a routine for her college auditions.
Dario’s cool perfection and immaculate style contrast with Philippe’s awkward
scruffiness, but it wakes desires Philippe thought he’d left behind. When the
attraction is surprisingly returned, Dario’s confidence won’t let Philippe
remain invisible. Unsure but curious, Philippe relaxes his rule of isolation,
and as the summer progresses, his relationship with Dario leads him to a
surprising discovery of his submissive sexual tendencies and a greater sense of
self-awareness.

Tragedy threatens to destroy the
connections Philippe has made and forces him to retreat into the shadows of his
past, far from the radiance of Dario’s love. Ultimately, he must decide if it
is time to stop hiding and set himself free.

Excerpt:

After the ride, which once again Dario
wouldn’t let me pitch in any money toward, we almost instinctively found our
way back to the Bethesda Fountain, and then we grabbed a spot to sit at the
pool’s edge.

For a while we both studied the huge statue
of an angel at the fountain’s center in silence.

“Here, Philippe.” Dario handed me my
sandwich from the brown paper bag he carried. Then he gallantly opened my
bottle of iced tea, as if I wasn’t capable of doing it for myself. After he did
that, when he winked at me, I felt warm inside. Like maybe he was looking out
for me.

“Thanks.” The time had come for making
small talk. So I decided to unwrap my sandwich and take a big bite, which would
necessarily delay our conversation.

“So how do you like New York City?” He
opened up his own sandwich and took a perfect-sized bite: not too big and not
too small. Just right.

I wiped at my beard with my sleeve but
stopped short when I realized what I’d just done. (Fishermen weren’t exactly
obsessed with the rules of proper etiquette.) “I like it right here. Right
now.”

Dario smiled at me. “Good answer.” He was
still looking at me like he wanted me to say more, which didn’t surprise me
much. “But what I mean is, overall, do you like the city?”

“That depends. Do you want me to give you
an answer you’ll like, or do you want me to tell you the truth?”

He tilted his head, trying to figure out
what I’d meant. “The truth, of course.”

“One night, when I told you the truth, you
got up and left me.”

“Are you referring to when I asked you why
you hide behind all the hair and you said you didn’t know?”

“Yeah… that night at Pinkberry.”

“I left because you do know why you hide.
Your answer to my question was not truthful.”

He had me there, which caused me to blush,
something I’d been doing way too much lately. “Okay, so you want to know if I
like New York City, and I do. I’m kind of surprised by that, too, because I’ve
always been so into nature, especially wide open spaces like the ocean.”

“And why do you think this crowded city
works for you?”

I rubbed my beard several times with a
flattened palm, and then I grabbed a fist full of my long hair, pulled it up
off my neck, holding it there until I felt the breeze kiss the backs of my
ears. “Because I like to hide, and hiding’s easy here.”

“It’s also easy to get lost in the crowd.”

He said it like it was a bad thing. “Yeah,
that too.”

“You want to get lost in the crowd?”

“Most of the time, I do.” I looked at him
directly. After all, hadn’t he told me he’d wanted the truth?

Dario took a deep breath, blew it out
harshly, and clenched his fists, like he was fighting an urge to shake me. “I
spend my entire life trying to stand out in a crowd. If I cannot stand out in a
group of dancers, I will never get a job in the dance world.”

“I guess we’re very different.”

“In some ways. But I never said that I
liked to stand out, just that I have to. That’s why I work so hard to be the
best dancer I can be, so I will stand out in a way I’ll be proud of.”

I nodded my understanding.

“And be warned: you stand out quite a lot
to me, Philippe.” He continued to watch me, but now his gaze felt soft and
warm. And focused… very focused.

Which made my face heat up again. “Uh…
thank you, Dario, but I’m not at all sure why that is.”

Dario tugged my sandwich from out of my
hands and stuck his own sandwich down beside mine on the paper bag. “I have
never met anyone like you. I work in the entertainment field, which can be very
superficial, Philippe, and you are just… just so incredibly genuine. It shows
in every small detail—mostly in your eyes—but also in your personal style, the
way you care for Sophie, even in your overgrown beard, which I, incidentally,
love. I left Pinkberry that night because I couldn’t stand to hear you
intentionally mislead me—because you do know why you hide. You may not be ready
to tell me your reasons yet, but you know what they are.”

I couldn’t think of a reply, probably
because of the small fact that what Dario had just said was so true. I’d never
told anyone of how badly I’d suffered over my mother’s death… how I still
suffered the loss of her.

Only Henri knew because he had been there
from beginning to end to witness the whole ugly scene.

But the fact that I was tongue-tied did not
seem to dismay him. “I’m hoping we share just enough in common to make us
compatible, and at the same time, we differ sufficiently that we will be
fascinating to one another.”

Nodding, I admitted to something pretty
significant, at least it was for me. “I’m already pretty much fascinated with
you, Dario.” I felt that frequent blush taking its usual place on my cheeks.

The look in his eyes showed the pleasure he
felt at my sincerity. And in his next breath he admitted a truth to match mine.
“I want to kiss you.”

So maybe I nodded again.

Dario leaned in toward me, lifted up his
perfect lips to mine, and all I could think when they touched together was “so
soft.” I was pretty sure he liked kissing me, too, judging by the way he
reached around my neck, pulled my face down toward his, and kissed me some
more.

I just couldn’t stop myself from grinning
when our lips came apart, and Dario laughed out loud when he saw my huge smile,
because I know he didn’t expect it from someone as reserved as me.

He spoke softly. “You are a very special
man.”

Book Links:

About the Author:

Mia Kerick is the mother of four
exceptional children—all named after saints—and five nonpedigreed cats—all
named after the next best thing to saints, Boston Red Sox players. Her husband
of twenty years has been told by many that he has the patience of Job, but
don’t ask Mia about that, as it is a sensitive subject.

Mia focuses her stories on the emotional
growth of troubled men and their relationships, and she believes that sex has a
place in a love story, but not until it is firmly established as a love story.
As a teen, Mia filled spiral-bound notebooks with romantic tales of tortured
heroes (most of whom happened to strongly resemble lead vocalists of 1980s
big-hair bands) and stuffed them under her mattress for safekeeping. She is
thankful to Dreamspinner Press for providing her with an alternate place to
stash her stories.

Mia is proud of her involvement with the
Human Rights Campaign and cheers for each and every victory made in the name of
marital equality. Her only major regret: never having taken typing or computer
class in school, destining her to a life consumed with two-fingered pecking and
constant prayer to the Gods of Technology.